Sep 8, 2014 3 min read

The best teachers are able to engage students and demonstrate concern for their academic growth and well-being while maintaining clearly delineated boundaries that keep things from getting too personal.

However, a series of stories by Harrisburg’s Patriot-News published last week revealed how that relationship can sometimes cross the line of propriety and damage the lives of students and swiftly wreck the careers of educators.

The newspaper reported the state Department of Education will likely log more than 700 complaints regarding teacher misconduct this year, setting a record. By way of comparison, 122 complaints were logged in 2007. To be sure, some of these complaints will be classified as minor nuisances and dismissed accordingly, like young Jacob or Amber not getting a grade a parent thought appropriate, or poor Nicholas not getting enough playing time on the basketball court. Some other complaints will deal with teacher misconduct that have nothing to do with their interactions with students, such as drunken driving arrests or drug-possession charges.

But a growing number of complaints center around teachers embarking on sexual relationships with students, or engaging in clear-cut cases of sexual abuse. Pennsylvania is, unfortunately, a national leader in the number of cases regarding teacher sexual misconduct. As of early August, Pennsylvania was neck-and-neck with California for recording the most sex crimes by teachers, with both states being bested only by Texas. As one expert on these misdeeds told the Associated Press, “It’s an enormous problem all across the country, and Pennsylvania’s at the top of it. This isn’t a list that you want to lead.”

To say the least.

It’s not as if teachers in Pennsylvania have somehow suddenly lost sight of conventional student-teacher boundaries and started preying on their charges. There’s now greater awareness, and greater reporting of misdeeds, sparked at least in part by the publicity surrounding Jerry Sandusky’s years-long spree of rape and molestation at Penn State University and its environs. It’s no longer an issue that’s quietly hushed up or kept in the dark.

But the Patriot-News series explored how the casual relationship between teachers and students fostered through texting and social media can break down barriers that existed in the days when, if teachers and students wanted to communicate outside the classroom, they had to do so over a landline or meet in person – both riskier propositions. The newspaper also pointed out some young teachers, who came of age in a world drenched in social media, have a tougher time discerning the line between their professional duties and their private lives.

“We’re undergoing a tremendous transformation in terms of how we communicate and how we interact,” Fred Lane, the author of the book “Cybertraps for Educators,” told the Patriot-News. “Parents need to recognize that this is not their father’s communication network anymore.”

To help curb the problem, the Pennsylvania State Education Association urged teachers to not accept Facebook “friend” requests from students or teachers. Legislation is also being considered on both the state and national levels that would make it harder for districts to “pass the trash” and let teachers strongly suspected of sexual misconduct resign and seek work elsewhere.

Of course, it must be emphasized the number of teachers committing sex crimes is, proportionately, very small, and most educators are dedicated professionals who know how to comport themselves both inside and outside the classroom. But the ones who do not must be dealt with frankly and forthrightly.